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Why I love the iPhone
Last IFA a Phone Saved My Liveblog
That avalanche of TVs, fridges, iPod docks, and iPod dock fridges that some people like to call IFA 2008 but I call Satan's Hell on Earth, agonized to its end this week. About bloody time. To me, the star of this fair wasn't the Sony ZX1, the Samsung X360 or even Addy's bags, but one now-ancient gadget that saved my life not one, but two times at the show: my good old trusty iPhone. More » -
ifa 2008
Addy Changes the World One Bag at a Time
Remember the video above, with our very own and beloved Addy Dugdale cursing and tearing apart Sharp's IFA 2007 sharp-as-knives gigantic swag bags? Well, I'm happy to report that Addy changed the world that day, once and forever. I witnessed the consequences of her actions at IFA 2008: More » -
iPod Touch Controls Oven
iPod Fridge and iGorenje Home Appliance Control System in Action
We covered the Gorenje Made for iPod fridge and the iGorenje home appliance program at IFA last Sunday. I've spent some time with both and I like what I see, although I have some doubts about how practical this can be. More » -
Miele Master Cool
Miele's New Giant Fridge Can Double as a Morgue
I don't know if these fridges are the norm in the US, but it seems to me like Miele's latest giganormous fridge from their Master Cool line—shown here at IFA 2008—has to be the biggest fridge ever available to megalomaniac consumers and potential serial killers. They should christen it The Walk-In Fridge, because this thing is so big that you can fit a cow inside. So huge in fact that I won't be able to put it in my apartment's living room. Actually, I think can put my entire living room and bedroom inside during the summer months. [More IFA 2008 Coverage] -
gorenje
Gorenje Fridge Table Lifts Food, People Frozen in Carbonite
The Home Appliances halls at IFA 2008 have some of the best stuff in the fair, like this Gorenje fridge table, which seems to be a brand obsessed about doing really Star Trekish stuff for the kitchen. The table—with a central fridge that smoothly raises to give access to food and beverages, and a security system to avoid having your arm trapped in it—is not a concept but a real product made to order. The price: $15,000 to $20,000, depending on the material you choose. I'll keep using my picnic fridge and raising it to the table while making a hmmmmm noise with my mouth, thank you very much. [More IFA 2008 Coverage] -
Magic Mirror Changes Clothes' Fabric
Amazing Magic Mirror Digitally Changes Fabrics On the Fly
The Fraunhofer Institute—the guys who invented MP3 and screwed the music labels as a result, which is why we like them so much—have a booth at IFA with their latest inventions. The best one is this stunning magic mirror, an augmented reality display that gets any piece of clothing and transforms its fabric in real time. Live, the effect was absolutely amazing, indistinguishable from a real mirror. More » -
siemens
Siemens Oven Moves Your Roast Like a Death Star Hangar Lift
The Siemens HB 78P570 oven looks like any other oven until you notice that it has no door, which is precisely when it starts to open automatically from its bottom: The glossy black food platform slides down mechanically until it is at the same level as your kitchen top. Sounds a bit crazy, but it's extremely convenient to put your suckling pig stuffed with chicken wings, then easily paint it with BBQ honey sauce until it's done. [More IFA 2008 Coverage] -
Gorenje Qube Foldable Hob Is Laptop of Kitchens
Gorenje Qube Foldable Hob Is the Laptop of Kitchens
This is the Gorenje Foldable Qube prototype, a hob and hood system that can be hung on the wall of a small kitchen to save some serious space. It's also a kitchen-to-go: "You can take it with you anywhere—just like a laptop," said the IFA booth laeedee. You know, for those very special times in which you need to cook anywhere else in the house but the kitchen: More » -
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gorenje
Gorenje Fridge Is Officially Made for iPod, As Lickable as the Touch Itself
Believe it or not, this beautiful Gorenje fridge is an official Apple-licensed Made for iPod refrigerator. And believe it or not, it's not just a speaker and a dock glued to a glossy black fridge: You can control the fridge itself using your iPod touch or iPhone using an application called iGorenj, which in fact can control all kinds of Gorenje appliances—from the washing machine to the oven—as you can see in the user interface gallery. More » -
Hands-On: LG X110 Feels Solid, Fast
LG X110 Feels Solid, Fast, Is Netbook with Capital N
I groped and used the LG X110 netbook for some time here at IFA. As Mark pointed out, this is the first netbook where "net" actually means something else: direct 3G network access without additions. More » -
iriver
iRiver Concepts Feel Straight Out of Terry Gilliam's Brain
Apart from their Spinn 70s-retro analog goodness, iRiver had two beautiful concept products in their IFA 2008 stand which had a design that looked further into the past, as far as the beginning of the 20th century. As you can see in the video, both their Clix speaker—inspired by the shape of cathode ray tubes—and their pipe music player—which you can blow to mute (insert joke here), and connect it to a speaker resembling a phonograph horn—look both intriguing and beautiful. [More IFA 2008 Coverage] -
mods
Unreal Rocket Launcher PC Mod Will Blast Your Pants Off
One more IFA, one more gallery of absolutely crazy PC mods by nutty Europeans. The best of the lot was, without a doubt, this menacing Unreal Rocket Launcher. But there are others, each of them more silly, pointless, and horrendous than the previous one. More » -
iRiver Spinn Feels 70s Analog Good
iRiver Spinn Media Player Has a Great 70s Retro Flair, Feels Oh-So-Good
I love the new analog controller in the iRiver Spinn as much as I love its simple brushed aluminum design, the old radio-inspired user interface, and the whole packaging. While I'm still partial to direct touch interfaces—which the Spinn has as well, although it's not multitouch—the Spinn rolling thingie feels great, giving it a heavenly 70s analog feeling. More » -
Samsung Omnia Hands-On: It's Pants
Samsung Omnia Isn't Going to Kill iAnything
I got to play for quite a long time with the Samsung Omnia, the iPhone-Killer wannabe with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, here at IFA 2008. The verdict: it's not an iPhone killer, despite previous demos. In fact, it sucks. It has a poorly designed interface, lousy response time, buggy software, and it felt cheap and fat on my hand. I even thought that I was being even more thick than usual while trying it, but I got the Omnia expert lady to give it a marketdrone spin for me and her last sentence summarized it all: "Oh, naw it'z not verking at all. I think I haf too many tasks open. Sorry." More » -
Toshiba Magic Gestures Hands-On Video
Toshiba Magic Gestures Convert You Into Hitchhiking Gandalf
To be honest, I was going to headline this article "Toshiba Magic Waving Handy-Spanky-Fingery Gestures Are Perfect for Harry Potter and Online Porn Users," but I decided against it at the last minute for obvious reasons, even when I had two powerful arguments in favor. You will understand them when you watch Helga—the Good Toshiba Witch of West Berlin—and myself in the video: More » -
ifa 2008
Panasonic to Mass Produce 150-Inch TV, Requires Your Own Nuclear Power Plant
Panasonic is saying that they are going to start mass-manufacturing their 150-inch 2,106 x 4,096 display, which obviously is not directed at consumers unless a) they have their own Quad-HD video material to play and b) they have their own nuclear power plant, since this beast eats 1,500 watts, which in the Michael Phelps scale is 243 pizzas, two roasted pigs stuffed with chicken breasts, five chili burritos and two dozen plates of pasta with veal meatballs. Hmmm. Meatballs. [Engadget] -
Samsung Ultraslim TV Looks Like Giant iPhone 3G
Samsung Ultraslim TV Looks Like Giant iPhone 3G
Scratch one more notch for Apple design influence, because next year's top-of-the-range Samsung Ultraslim LCD TV All-In-One 1 looks like an oversized iPhone 3G, down to the finish in black or white. The 52-inch TV—which is 1-inch at its thickest point—includes all the circuitry and ports in its ultra-slim body, with no breakout boxes or hunchbacks. The result is the slickest TV we have seen in the whole of IFA 2008, beating the Sony ZX1. And the best looking so far this year. More » -
MacBook Air Killer Hands-On
Video Hands-on: Samsung X360 is an Air Killer
I got my dirty paws all over the 2.79-pound Samsung X360 and I've got to say I'm impressed with everything except for the piano black finish. Its size and weight—very light and thin—is comparable to the MacBook Air, the 13.3-inch,1,200 x 800 pixel screen looks very good, and it comes with more ports and features than Apple's notebook: direct HDMI out, three USB ports, Express Card slot, 7-in-1 flash card reader, external optical unit included, and fingerprint reader for security. Definitely, the Samsung X360 bests the MacBook Air in features hands down... although yes, you guessed it, there's a big hairy but lurking around the corner. More » -
samsung
Samsung's New Cameras Are Cheap Excuse to Show Hot Biker Girl
For some strange and sick reason, Samsung is one of those manufacturers who doesn't think that girl power is the future of gadgetry, and instead assumes that all digital camera buyers are sex-obsessed men, basement World of Warcraft players with a large hadron collider for all things leather and large female attributes, all of them eager to try their new Fall 2008 camera lineup on a blonde riding a bike. More » -
ifa 2008
Samsung Updates Syncmaster Monitor Range: 2233HZ and 2243HZ
Among its raft of new products at IFA, Samsung has updated its Syncmaster range of monitors (last heard about with the double-screened edition) with two new 22-inchers that have "enhanced motion picture acceleration" tech for reduced ghosting. The new tech reduces the motion-picture response time from 27ms to 9ms, which Samsung says is good for gaming (though with 2ms monitors about, it seems pretty sucky.) Both have 1680 x 1050 pixels and a 30,000:1 contrast ratio, with the main differences between the 2233HZ and the 2243HZ being in styling: the 2233 is curvier, whereas the 2243 is more "corporate suit" square. There's no info on price or release date, but for monitor fanatics, the press release is below. More » -
ifa 2008
Samsung X360 Laptop is Super Skinny
It's pretty clear where Samsung is going with the X360 laptop when you notice it's branded it as "lighter than air" and say it's the "lightest notebook in its 13.3 inch class" since it weighs just 1.27 kg. Inside there's a 45nm Core 2 Duo mobile processor, mated to a 1280 x 800 pixel LED-backlit screen, and the machine has no internal DVD drive: instead it comes with an external one. Sounds a little familiar, no? But the battery life is claimed to be 10 hours, by Samsung, and it's got a full array of ports, including an RJ45 socket for wired LAN, a mic-in, three USB 2.0 sockets, a PCI express card slot and a HDMI socket. Somewhat strangely it's also been "sprinkled" with nano silver ion powder to keep the keyboard bacteria-free. It'll be available in September in some European countries, and Russia, China and Hong Kong, but there's no info on the US release or pricing. Extensive press release below. More » -
ifa 2008
Roundup: IFA 2008 Day One
Our first day at IFA 2008 is done, and without doubt, the overall winner so far—apart from Miss IFA and her jewels—has been the new Sony ZX1 9.9mm-thin LCD TV, which was absolutely beautiful, followed by the Philips Essence. However, there have been plenty of other things that you can check out here: More » -
philips
Quick View on Philips New IFA 2008 Gadgets
In addition to their new TVs and AV systems, Philips had a ton of small new gadgets and appliances at IFA 2008 today: new Streamium 160GB micro Hi-Fi systems, the CinemaOne all-in-one home theater unit, the new version of the Wake-Up Light alarm clock, a cool home messaging system bar, a beer draft machine, a barrage of grooming things, food processors, and the new Senseo Latte Select, which does perfect latte macchiatos in seconds. I'll get an espresso instead, because I was getting quite sleepy right there. Full gallery of shiny objects after the jump. More » -
ifa 2008
Sony's Bravia BDV-IT1000 All-in-One Blu-ray Home Theater Experience
It was only a matter of time before Sony squeezed out an all-in-one Blu-ray home theater system, and their new Bravia BDV-IT1000 seems to fit that void quite nicely. Some of the highlight features include: 700W of total power, slim speakers thanks to finger-sized full-range drive units, wireless rear speakers, two HDMI inputs and support for Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. No word on a price or a release date, but I wouldn't doubt that this beauty will be stateside in the near future. More » -
Philips Essence
Philips Essence HDTV Eyes-On: Designed for Hanging, Has Removable Sound System
I saw the 42-inch Philips Essence 1080p at their booth today, and there are three things I like about it beyond its minimalist design with 21mm bezel. Very much in fact: More » -
Sony Walkman S Series
Sony Walkman S Series Hands and Ears-On
The S in the new Sony Walkman S Series apparently stands for sensing. When Fujio Nishida talked about it, I thought the thing actually sensed your mood by some kind of magical sensors (which actually would have been amazingly cool) to play songs to match them. Unfortunately, you have to select the mood you are in from a list of eleven, which include themes like "Energetic", "Relax", "Upbeat" or "Hot as a Horny Bunny". More » -
Philips Swarovski Active Crystals
Miss IFA Shows Us Her Jewels, and Her Philips and Swarovski Crystals Too
Ah Miss IFA, Miss IFA... Miss IFA with your—fake—red hair, Miss IFA with your—real—long legs, Miss IFA with your really big Philips and Swarovski Active Crystals... how much do we love thee? Let me count the ways. More » -
Philips 8mm Ultra-Thin TV
Philips 8mm-Thin 32-inch TV Is Nice But Still a Prototype
Philips is working on their own ultra-thin backlighting technology. But compared to the absolutely stunning Sony ZX1 9.9mm-thin TV, the Philips 8mm 32-inch model is a) just too small and b) just a prototype. However, it looks like it uses a similar LED-in-the-corner backlighting technology. [More IFA 2008 Coverage] -
ifa 2008
Philips Cinema One Squeezes Home Theater System into Tiny Round Box
As mentioned in the liveblog, Philips has stumped up a new home theater system that's as small, and almost as round as, a soccer ball—for those of us bored of boring, standard rectangular entertainment gadgets. Though it's tiny, it fits in an iPod dock, a five-channel amp, six speakers and a subwoofer built into the base. It must be pretty cramped inside, since it's just 10.75-inches across, and only 6.75 high. The DVD player can cope with DivX, MPEG-4 and WMV, and upscales to 1080p over HDMI and the CD player can read MP3 discs, and it's got USB-in. If that's whetted your appetite, you'll have to wait as there's no info yet on timing or price. But the press release is below. More » -
ifa 2008
Live from Philips Press Conference at IFA
We are at the Philips press conference and it has started with... a Senseo coffee machine that can make latte macchiatos? Apparently, the new home appliances part of IFA is big. But there's more, here comes their first TV, called Essence. -
ifa 2008
Sharp Aquos XS1 is Crazy Concept No More
Sharp showed off an impressively anorexic concept display at IFA last year, and this year they've turned it into production reality. In 52- and 65-inch sizes, the Sharp XS1 LCD TV is a hair less than an inch thick (23mm 0r .9 inches) and displays 1080p, 100Hz (this is Europe) and a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. Slated for release in the UK this October, we still don't know the price and/or whether or not chubby Americans will be allowed to be seen in the same room with such a svelte TV. More » -
sony
Sony Z4500 Motionflow 200Hz HDTV Gives Ultra-Smooth Video Action
Another First today has been the Sony Z4500 with 200Hz Motionflow technology, which uses a special processor to interpolate frames from the original source, delivering 200 frames per second for ultra-smooth, I-wanna-rub-my-butt-against-a-giant-english-pudding smooth video action. I saw the demo, right next to a normal 100Hz TV and the difference was extreme, even for a half-blind bat like me. More » -
ifa 2008
Panasonic Drops Sleeker DMP-BD35 & DMP-BD55 Blu-ray Decks
We just saw the DMP-BD50 a few months back, but now at IFA Panasonic has made official two new BD-Live 2.0-compatible players, the BD35 and BD55. The only discernible difference between the two, at the moment, is the BD55 supports analog 7.1 channel audio output. On top of that, they both share a slimmed-down chassis (just 4.9 cm high for the BD35, 5.5 cm for the 55), Uniphier image processor just like in the BD50, SD-slots, all the audio formats you would expect, and of course Blu-ray profile 2.0. No pricing or availability for the US yet. Check out a full spec chart comparison after the jump. More » -
Sony ZX1 Ultra-Thin TV Hands-On
Sony ZX1 9.9mm-Thick TV Gives Me a Large Hadron Collider Right in My Pants
I just had a hands-on and ears-on and pants-in with the Sony KDL-40ZX1, which I declare as the first official superdupercool product to come out at IFA 2008. The 9.9mm screen picture quality is really amazing, crisp, and ultra-light. The design, while it's not OLED thin, is the best I've seen on any TV so far, sleek, simple, and absolutely lickable. The best thing, however, is that this is not a prototype but a real product. The lighting technology is smart and surprisingly effective. Updated with expected price. More » -
upscaling
Toshiba's Regza ZF HDTVs Do Their Own Cell-Processor Upscaling
Toshiba's new Regza ZF HDTVs don't upscale your DVDs to HD resolution with any old chipset or engine: they do it with a Cell-processor based system. Bonkers! It's the first TV to upscale with a Cell, and according to its European executive vice president, Toshiba's future "does not involve Blu-ray disc" but will use this sort of tech to deliver high-res imagery. The upscaling system uses the Cell for some advanced image-processing techniques, creating interpolated pixels to give the final image "near-HD" quality. The sets will also have Active Vision M100 100Hz HD picture processing, 178-degree viewing angle, 30,000:1 contrast ratio and 10-bit processing. The ZF TVs will be in 40- and 46-inch sizes, the 40-inch out now with pricing of around $2,390, the 46-pricing and availability is not announced yet. [Toshiba.co.uk and Toshiba.de-via Google translate.] -
New Cool Sony TVs at IFA
Live from the Sony Press Conference at IFA
Hookai. I'm lining up to get into Sony's press conference. They have some things under wraps, including a mega-TV with super-smooth video action and what could be some Walkmen. Hmmm, I love the smell of new plastic in the morning. More info and photos following up shortly. Keep watching this space.
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ifa 2008
Plantronics Gamecom 777 Dolby Gaming Headset Ears-On Actually Goes to 11
I was able to try the new Plantronics Gamecom 777 gaming headset here at IFA Showstoppers preview (about the only few thing worth trying, since the Garmin Nuvifone was broken). The $99 headset—equipped with a microphone that folds into the headset itself, Dolby Headphone and Dolby Pro Logic II technology—feels good both on your head and in your ear. More » -
ifa
We've Infiltrated IFA 2008
It's not open to the press or public yet, but our own fearless Jesus Diaz just might be on the IFA (think CES in Germany) floor now, snooping as booths are completed and new gadgets make their first appearances. And if he's able to find anything, you'll be the first to know. (Well, technically he'll be the first to know, but you won't be far behind.)
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